Real train kills man hunting 'ghost train'
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (MCT) — Investigators say a 29-year-old Charlotte man who was struck and killed by a train on a trestle in Iredell County, N.C., early Friday was among a group of ghost hunters who had to run for their lives when they realized a locomotive was barreling down on them.
The group had gathered on the bridge over Third Creek on the 119th anniversary of a fatal train wreck that sparked one of the Carolinas' best-known ghost stories. Witnesses told investigators that the group hoped to see a "ghost train" — part of the legend of the Bostian Bridge train wreck on Aug. 27, 1891, that killed about 30 people.
Early Friday, about 12 amateur ghost hunters were on the trestle when a Norfolk Southern train suddenly rounded a bend in the tracks, authorities said.
"They probably didn't hear the train coming until the last minute," said Iredell County Sheriff's Capt. Darren Campbell.
Christopher Kaiser was killed when he was struck and thrown to the bottom of the 100-foot ravine beneath the trestle.
Chemical in pool empties Vegas hotel
LAS VEGAS (AP) — High concentrations of a chemical similar to bleach seeped into a pool at the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip on Friday, causing hotel officials to evacuate some 1,500 guests and sending at least 26 people to local hospitals with breathing problems.
Richard Brenner of the Clark County Fire Department said sodium hypochlorite went into the hotel's lazy river pool when a valve used to the control the chemical malfunctioned.
"People started smelling chlorine," Brenner said. "It doesn't take much to set our nose off."
About 100 people had trouble breathing but did not need to the hospital, said Brenner, who said he thought everyone would be OK. Those treated needed to breathe from oxygen tanks to get the chemicals out of their lungs, he said.
Man arrested trying to fly files to China
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — A former U.S. Army analyst from Oklahoma was arrested in Minneapolis while trying to board a one-way flight to China with electronic files containing a restricted Army field manual, authorities said Friday.
Federal prosecutors said Liangtian Yang, 26, also known as Alfred Yang, of Lawton, Okla., allegedly was carrying multiple data storage devices when he was arrested Thursday at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Yang was charged Thursday in Oklahoma City with one count of theft of government property, which carries a maximum sentence of one year in prison. Defense attorney Frederick Goetz of Minneapolis said the charge is a misdemeanor, but declined further comment Friday.
Envoy's daughter dies in 20-story fall
NEW YORK (AP) — The 17-year-old daughter of the U.S. ambassador to Thailand slipped off her shoes and climbed out onto a window ledge Friday at a Manhattan apartment before plummeting more than 20 stories to her death, police said.
Nicole John fell at about 4:15 a.m. from the top floor of the 25-story Herald Towers, police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. Her body landed on a third-floor ledge, a camera nearby. It's not clear whether she had been trying to take a photo when she died, and her death is believed to be accidental. The girl's father, Eric John, was appointed U.S. ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand in 2007.
Nicole John, an incoming freshman at Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, was thought to have been drinking. Ilan Nassimi, 25, who rents the apartment, was arrested later Friday on charges of giving alcohol to a minor, police said. He was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan court and it wasn't clear if he had a lawyer.
Couple say priest impregnated girl
ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania couple secretly videotaped a Roman Catholic priest having sex with their 18-year-old daughter in the basement of their home and are now suing, saying he got her pregnant.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in Berks County Court, alleges that the Rev. Luis A. Bonilla Margarito carried on a sexual relationship with the teen while he was the chaplain of Reading Central Catholic High School and she was a senior there. The girl's parents became suspicious and installed a camera in their basement, where Bonilla and the teen were spending large amounts of time. The camera recorded the couple having sex in November 2009, after she had graduated, according to the suit.
Bonilla and young woman are now evidently living with each other.
National news briefsWoman found dead in junk-filled home
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A four-month search for a missing Las Vegas woman came to a ghastly end this week when her husband found her corpse in their home amid a labyrinth of squalor that had been impassable even to search dogs.
Bill James apparently had no idea that the body of his pack-rat wife, Billie Jean, was under the same roof as he helped police scour the home and Nevada desert for any sign of her. Then he spotted her feet poking out of a floor-to-ceiling pile of junk Wednesday, revealing in shocking detail the woman's penchant for hoarding.
Police say they searched the home several times — even using dogs from a unit that helped locate bodies at ground zero after Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina. But they were unable to find the body of amid the piles of clothes, knickknacks, trash and other junk.